MGB Front Suspension Rebound Distance Piece Three Bolter

While revamping the front suspension on the MGB, I found this Previous Owner Hack:

 

MGB Front Suspension Rebound Distance Piece Three Bolter wait ...what?

I *think* that's suppossed to be #17 in this compleatly hand drawn and definately not stolen from the web drawing:

Totally hand drawn

So: please leave a comment if you know why the heck the PO may have done this Three Bolt Hack. It's either to do with the lowered ride height or the installed-and-then-half-removed-before-I-got-it-tube-shock-converstion. Rumor has it this was an Autocross car before I adopted her.

 

So: please leave any clues in the comments!!!

MGB Front Lower A Arm Bushing - Isn't She Pretty In Poly?

We replaced the MGBs front lower A Arm bushings as they were looking a bit ragged with bits hanging out of them.

 

Didn't have a spring compressor, so we used the "jack up the lower spring support until the A Arm is horizontal, then remove the bolts; we only did one side of the a arm at a time so that the spring and front bits would remain somewhat located:

Using a jack to compress the MGB springs - what could possibly go wrong?

We used a 1 1/8th inch socket on one side and a 15 mm socket on the other, mixing units just to be obnoxious; bushings came out without too much cursing:

Pressing out the old lower a arm bushing using a vise and two sockets

Surprise! The old bushings revealed themselves to be the MGB V8 steel sleeved bushings instead of the two piece no-sleeve standard bushings.

MGB Front Lower A Arm Bushing - V8 Style!

We installed the poly bushings from Moss anyway. Note there were no metal sleeves for the interior or exterior of the bushings as is common on poly bushings - inner usually. I called Moss and they checked the kits and decided that was as it should be. I noted the greased bushings slid onto the pins with some difficulty, so there was no room for a sleeve anyway.

Working on a 45 year old car? What time is it? GRINDER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Might as well grind off the surface rust and paint with Rustoleum before remounting the parts.

Grind baby grind!

Painted and ready to return

MGB Front Lower A Arm Bushing - Isn't She Pretty in Poly?

One last note on the outside pin of the lower a arm: the grease / dust seal has a VERY thin rubber lip, which is east to fold under when reinstalling (if it happens to fall off while you are flailing and floundering trying to get the bolts for the spring pan realigned, not that it would ever happen).

MGB Rebound Straps - The Bad and the Ugly

[UPDATED 2012-04-03; scroll down to view]

 

We replaced the drivers side MGB Rebound Strap (aka Stop Strap) before the first race in 2011 - and here is a pic of it today, almost split through:

  

Yikes.

Could be worse though; below is the passenger side rebound strap that we could not remove due to a rusty bolt. Gnarley! But notice it's still hanging in there, probably due to the OEM high quality strap that has thread / rope embedded in the rubber of the strap. 

An attempt at a close up; it's fuzzy not because it out of focus, it fuzzy because IT'S DAMN FUZZY!

Someone should probably do something about that...


[UPDATE 2012-03-24] Turns out the "new strap" in the first pic is split all the way through in the bottom eyelet. This was the cause of Randy's Clunk described (and then subsequently ignored) in the Charlotte 2011 race report. When we replaced the strap last winter, the old bushing (which goes inside the rubber strap eyelet) was rusted tight to the holding pin / bolt - we could not get it off, so we left it and put the new strap right on it. Which then proceeded to sand through the new strap to weaken it enough to break when the very old and very cheap and very tired tube shocks let the axle fall too fast. Sigh. Updates later, as the tragety unfolds (the rusted pin / bolt is no longer available for sale - must step lightly here with only 3 weeks till next race!)


[UPDATE 2012-03-25] As expected, the passenger side bolt immediately sheared off when I tried to loosen it. %$#%#% oh well. As Forrest Gump sagely said: "That's good; one less thing to worry about."


[UPDATE 2012-03-30]

That split shown up in picture 1? It was all the way through:

3 Races old :-(

Time to order new straps... but how to stop them from splitting again? StrappingLad in the USA makes very nice replacement straps out of webbing that won't split; I emailed a question (my suspensions been lowered, do I need shorter straps?) but time has expired on a response, since I have a race in 2 weeks. 

I also didn't like the zero-stretch attribute of the webbing-based straps. "Step Functions" are a bad thing in most engineering practices, and this sudden jarring stop is probably no different. i wanted a little give first (as the original straps were designed) but then a final solid measurable maximum stopping length (like StrappingLads has).

So I talked my pit crew into sewing up two double straps that are about a half inch longer than the rubber based original-but-new replacement rebound straps:

MG Minions

The final result. Top is the $3 FRAKTA strap from Ikea that we hacked up and sewed (I have NO frakta idea what it was intended to be used for), middle is the strap on it's side, bottom is the strap around one of the rubber rebound straps:

 

 Encased MGB rebound strap installed, drivers side:
 

Encased MGB rebound strap installed, Guinness cooler side; note use of cotter pin and washer to hold lower strap on luckily when the rusted bolt snapped off it left enough threads to drill - since the strap takes no side-to-side force, it's just meant to stop it from slipping off.

 

The lower attach post with broken off thread, cleaned up with dremel and coated liberally with rubber-friendly silicone lube:

 

Note: DO NOT DO WHAT IS PICTURED BELOW:

Bad idea #2352

After a raucous discussion on the email list about rebound straps I somehow retained the misconception that the lower strap eye has a metal bushing just like the upper strap eye (you can see the bushing in the lower left of the FRAKTA pic above). Leading me to the conclusion that is was rusted on the post, and a few on the list agreed with me (they probably thought I was talking about the upper post). Long story short, I tried to dremel off the rusted-bushing-that-never-was and of course cut into the post itself... which is welded to the axle and very hard to replace, if you can even find them for sale.I stopped after about 1/16th of an inch when my dimly lit Lucas light bulb finally flickered on over my head. DUH. Sigh. So... repeat... don't do that.

LINKS:


Some great links, until I clean up this page:

• Really great documentation of the same problem I am fighting: http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/axletext.htm#reboundstraps and in-depth bigger pics: http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/rr.htm#3
• Non-rubberband straps: if he doesn't answer my email in 2 days I will make my own eh: https://sites.google.com/site/strappingladshop/mgb-axle-straps

Suspension - we should get some

And now the big news. I am still waiting for the return of the broken-at-Summit-Point front anti-sway bar from Moss. 

While waiting, I took off the wheels to check brake pads (still very thick) and check out the front shock oil level, figuring it was low and maybe contributing to the demolished sway bar at Summit Point race. Below is a photo of the inside valving of the front shocks: on the left is the valve new from Moss, on the right is the valve that was in our MGB. 

Notice any difference? 

LIKE THE ACTUAL FARKING VALVE SPRING AND ALL THE FARKING VALVE O-RINGS?!?!?! 

That’s right ladies and gentlemen – you’ve been racing in a car that had ZERO FRONT SHOCK dampening (as if you need me to tell you that!). My guess: the DPO (dreadful previous owner) had completely removed the valves - probably had installed the tube shock kit and then removed it (and the sway bar) before selling the car off, and then didn’t bother to put the valves back in. I just happened to have 2 ‘competition up-rated’ valves I had ordered 6 months ago but never installed. Sweet. I installed them Monday but as it was raining I haven’t test driven yet – but results from the ‘fender bounce’ test states very much improved. Like, actually damped. Party.